A new study finds those who drink three or four cups of coffee a day were 15% less likely to get ringing in ears.

A Londoner who doesn’t drink coffee has given those who indulge a reason to hoist an extra cup.

Jordan Glicksman is a hot-chocolate man, but the researcher at Western University has found those who drink three or four cups of Joe a day are less prone to developing a ringing in their ears, a condition called tinnitus.

His finding, published in The American Journal of Medicine, delivers a jolt to doctors who treat tinnitus. For years, they’ve recommended their patients cut back on caffeine.

It was their recommendation that prompted Glicksman to conduct his long-term study when he was studying public health at Harvard University — there has been almost no examination of the connection between caffeine and tinnitus and the one study that searched found no link.

Glicksman also expected to find no connection — only to find a link but exactly the opposite of what clinicians had assumed.

“I was a little surprised,” said Glicksman, who is studying to become an ears, nose and throat doctor at Western’s Schulich School of Medicine.

It wasn’t the coffee itself that was linked to the benefit but the caffeine, regardless of the source.

But the link with caffeine is a clue and now Glicksman is after more, using the same source he tapped for his study: The tracking of 65,085 American nurses from 1991 to 2009, a cohort that answers health-related questionnaires so researchers can find links between disease, diet and other lifestyle choices.

jonathan.sher@sunmedia.ca

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JOLTING STUDY

For years, doctors told patients with ringing in ears to cut back on caffeine.

New study finds those who drink three or four cups of coffee a day were 15% less likely to get ringing in ears.